AMSTERDAM.- The Mike Kelley retrospective—the first international exhibition in the reopened Stedelijk Museum—has attracted more than 200,000 visitors since it opened in mid-December. The exhibition will be on view for another two weeks, with the final day on Monday, April 1.

“It is wonderful that so many have come to see the exhibition and the new museum,” says Karin van Gilst, managing director of the Stedelijk Museum. “It is exceeding our expectations, and it proves that contemporary art is relevant to our broad publics—many who are coming to the Stedelijk Museum for the first time.”

Widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of our time, Mike Kelley (1954–2012) created a protean body of deeply innovative work, which mined American popular culture, modernism and alternative traditions alike for purposes of a relentless, dark and delirious examination of self and society.

“It is deeply gratifying that Kelley's remarkable work has touched our visitors, many who are visiting the exhibition multiple times, and others who are traveling from abroad especially to see it,” says Stedelijk Artistic Director Ann Goldstein, and the exhibition's organizer.

In the largest presentation of this oeuvre ever organized—and the first comprehensive survey since 1993—the Stedelijk has brought together over 200 of the artist’s works, including painting, sculpture, works on paper, installation, performance, music, video, photography, and collaborative works spanning the entirety of his 35-year career.

Organized chronologically, the exhibition occupies all of the temporary exhibition spaces (1792-square-meters/19,289 square-feet) of the new wing of the expanded Stedelijk Museum. An overview of the artist’s work from the mid-1970s until shortly before his death in early 2012, MIKE KELLEY offers visitors a unique opportunity to consider the full scope of the artist's achievements.

MIKE KELLEY travels internationally to France and the USA
The first major international traveling exhibition to be organized by the Stedelijk since its expansion and renovation, the exhibition will travel to the Centre Pompidou, Paris (May 2-August 5, 2013), MoMA PS1, New York (October 13, 2013-February 2, 2014) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (March-June 2014, dates to be confirmed).